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Five of the costliest US river floods
An aerial view of flood waters in Missouri show the Mississippi River flood of 1993. As a result of the floods, 168,340 people registered for federal assistance. (Andrea Booher/ Federal Emergency Management Agency / File)
1. Mississippi and Missouri rivers, 1993 – $23 billion
The great flood of 1993 broke record after record. In terms of the number of people displaced, amount of crops and property damaged, the area covered by water, and the duration, the flood surpassed all other floods since the government starting keeping records in the mid-1800s. The Mississippi and Missouri flood waters destroyed approximately 50,000 homes and caused 54,000 people to evacuate. Nine states were affected: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas.
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